Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE and LOCAL

CONDITIONAL FISCAL NOTE

General Fund Expenditure Impact

Cash Fund Revenue and Expenditure Impact

School District Revenue Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING SCHOOL CAPITAL FACILITY ASSISTANCE, AND MAKING APPROPRIATIONS THEREFOR.

Summary of Legislation

             *The amount of the appropriation from the Capital Construction Fund to the K-12 Capital Equalization Fund and to the Charter School Capital Facilities Revolving Fund are not identified in the bill.

            This bill would submit a question to the registered electors of the State of Colorado at the next general election in November 1998, to create the K-12 Capital Equalization Fund and the Charter School Capital Facilities Revolving Fund in the State Treasury. The funds would consist of moneys transferred by the General Assembly, and from gifts and donations. Moneys in the two funds would be annually appropriated to the Department of Education for allocation to the State Board of Education.

            K-12 Capital Equalization Fund and Grant Program. Qualifying school districts would be authorized to apply for grant moneys to fund capital projects. The maximum amount of a grant would be based on the percentage difference between the school district’s per pupil assessed valuation and the statewide average per pupil assessed valuation, multiplied by the estimated cost of the capital project for which the grant application is made. School districts would submit grant applications to the State Board of Education each year no later than July 1.

            The State Board of Education would prescribe statewide standards for school buildings and equipment prior to July 1, 1999. Funding priority would be given to qualifying school districts that are not in compliance with the adopted standards that have the greatest disparity between the district’s per pupil assessed valuation and the statewide average per pupil assessed valuation. Decisions on grant applications would be made annually by December 1. Moneys appropriated from the fund for grants would not be included in state or school district fiscal year spending for purposes of Section 20 of Article X of the State Constitution, or Section 24-77-102 (17), C.R.S.

            Charter School Capital Facilities Fund. With the consent of the local school board of education, a charter school may apply for a loan from the Charter School Capital Facilities Revolving Fund to purchase school buildings or grounds. The loans would be repaid with moneys that the charter school receives from the school district as part of its charter school contract.

            The bill contains an appropriation clause authorizing appropriations from the Capital Construction Fund to the K-12 Capital Equalization Fund and the Charter School Capital Facilities Revolving Fund. However, the amount of the appropriations are not identified. The bill would take effect following approval by the registered electors at the November, 1998, general election. Therefore, the bill is assessed as having conditional state and local fiscal impact.

State Expenditures

            The Department of Education will incur administrative expenses beginning in FY 1998-99 in order to provide staff support to the State Board of Education in prescribing statewide standards for school buildings and equipment, and in processing and prioritizing the grant requests. It is assumed that these administrative expenditures would be a General Fund obligation. The Department of Education indicates that 1.5 FTE Contract Labor, Principal Consultant, would be required. Expenses associated with administration of the program are identified in Table 1.

Table 1. SB 98-127 Department of Education Administrative Expenses

Election Expenditure Impacts (For Informational Purposes Only)

            A General Fund line-item in the 1998-99 Long Appropriations Bill will fund the costs of publicizing any initiative or referendum proposal in newspapers and for printing and distribution of the Blue Book to all electors. The General Assembly spent $291,267 GF for one state-wide ballot proposal on the November, 1995 ballot and $1,042,014 GF for the 12 proposals that appeared on the November, 1996 ballot.

            The 1996 General Election fixed costs for mailing the Blue Book to 1.35 million registered voters was $174,036 for postage and $3,800 for obtaining mailing addresses. These costs will be the same regardless of the number of issues on the ballot. Variable costs included: Spanish translation of $11,215; newspaper publication of $644,828; printing costs of $206,806; and other costs of $1,328. Total costs were $1,042,014 GF. Fixed costs totaled $177,837 and variable costs were $72,015 per ballot issue.

            Based on the costs incurred for the 1996 Blue Book, one ballot issue cost $249,852 to print and mail to the public. The $72,015 of incremental cost would be added for each issue to the basic mailing costs of $177,837.

School District Impact

          Based on FY 1997-98 data, 103 of the state’s 176 school districts have an assessed valuation per pupil that is less than the statewide average of $58,755 per pupil. These school districts would be authorized to apply for grant moneys to fund capital projects. The maximum amount of a grant would be based on the percentage difference between the school district’s per pupil assessed valuation and the statewide average per pupil assessed valuation, multiplied by the estimated cost of the capital project for which the grant application is made. In addition, the state’s 50 charter schools would each be eligible to apply for a loan from the Charter School Capital Facilities Revolving Fund to purchase school buildings or grounds. The loans would be repaid with moneys that a charter school receives from the school district as part of its charter school contract.

Spending Authority

            The bill contains an appropriation clause authorizing appropriations from the Capital Construction Fund to the K-12 Capital Equalization Fund and the Charter School Capital Facilities Revolving Fund. However, the amount of the appropriation for the two funds is not identified in the bill. The fiscal note would also imply that the Department of Education requires a General Fund appropriation in FY 1998-99 in the amount of $109,490 in order to implement the provisions of the bill.

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